Tokyo commissions another destroyer
TOKYO: The Maritime Self-Defence Force (MSDF) has commissioned another helicopter-carrying destroyer, whose size is on a par with Japan’s largest postwar naval vessel, Izumo, that went into service in 2015.
The 17,690-tonne Kaga, which is one of the four “aircraft-carrier like” destroyers equipped with a large flight deck, will be used for surveillance activities as Japan keeps a watchful eye on China’s growing maritime assertiveness.
The government has taken the position that Japan cannot possess an offensive aircraft carrier due to its war-renouncing constitution. The new vessel, to belong to the MSDF’s Escort Flotilla Four based in Kure, Hiroshima prefecture, will also engage in international peace missions and disaster relief operations, according to the MSDF.
The 248m Kaga is the same size as the Izumo destroyer and can carry up to 14 helicopters. But it is more difficult to detect it by radar, according to the MSDF. The MSDF also has two 12,247-tonne flattopped destroyers — Hyuga and Ise.
At a ceremony held on Wednesday morning in Yokohama, the new ship was handed over to the defence ministry from Japan Marine United Corp, which built the vessel.
“The security environment surrounding our country is becoming tougher. The Kaga can play an important role,” parliamentary Vice-Defence Minister Takayuki Kobayashi said at the ceremony. The construction cost for the vessel was about ¥120 billion (about 38 billion baht). The vessel can also carry the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but cruises like a plane.
Meanwhile, the ageing 4,717-tonne destroyer Kurama retired the same day after being in service for about 36 years.